AHEAD of the February 2012 governorship election in Bayelsa, the drumbeat of political activities towards the target date has peaked in the state taking on dimensions that have serious implication for the country's democratic process as well as national security. The climax of the qualification exercise for the primaries arose from the position of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which ruled on the screening of candidates as well as the corresponding Screening Appeal Panel. The NWC, in what it termed as final, approved seven candidates and disqualified four others for the party primaries billed to hold tomorrow in the state.Those who got the party's nod to contest the primaries include Orufa Justine Boloubo, Dickson Seriake Henry, Enai Christopher Fullpower, Kalango Michael Youppele, Francis Amaebi, Ekiyegha Francis Korobido and Austin Febo. Those rejected include Timipre Sylva, the incumbent governor, Timi Alaibe, the former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ben Murray-Bruce, former Director-General of Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and Godknows Igali, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources.Sundry reasons were advanced for the disqualification of the candidates affected. The incumbent governor, Sylva, was turned down for vague security allegation that he threatened to kill the President; Murray-Bruce was turned down for holding dual nationality and Alaibe, for not meeting a statutory two-year membership qualification requisite.The party's decision is backed by Section 32 of the 2010 Electoral Act as amended, which allows the party to submit to the electoral commission the list of candidates the 'party proposes to sponsor at the elections.'In previous electoral exercises across the country, this has become a pretext for arbitrary selection of party candidates for election to the relegation or abandonment of internal democracy. And in this context, it has been blatantly abused by the PDP. Internal democracy in a liberal democracy context means also the supremacy of the membership of the party in the determination of the affairs of the party, including those to run the party who are elected at party congresses and, of course, those to represent the party at the various tiers of government.At the level of the party, internal democracy, a sort of direct democracy dispensation prevails and the people are at the centre of it.Democracy is both a process and procedure in which the representatives of the people within a political unit are elected to run the affairs of the unit. Embedded in the election is the consent of the people, which confers legitimacy on those elected. The legitimacy of the elected entails evenhandedness. For that reason the democratic method is held sacrosanct in a democracy.The party processes in our country contradict these values of internal party democracy. It is more or less a godfather-cum-moneybag affair, as well as the tyranny of the few. It is this inherent deficit in the democratic process that engenders brash statements from party leaders to the extent that they can impose candidates, not elect them. Also, this electoral practice has sadly engendered social vices such as intra-party violence underlined by political assassination and monetisation of the democratic process. These practices are unhealthy for our democracy and keep the country perpetually in the grey area of democratic practice.The PDP subverted internal party democracy in the screening exercise in which candidates were selected for tomorrow's primaries.Even if we rationalise the dual citizenship and allegiance question clearly anchored on Sections 28 and 182 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, as well as the membership condition deployed against some of the candidates, where do we place the vague security allegation against the incumbent governor of the state' What bars an incumbent within the parameters of fair play from at least contesting the primaries' The impression, which the screening process has created is anything but democracy. People ought to be allowed to express their franchise. Issue-based process ought to be encouraged and what the PDP is doing in Bayelsa State is clearly a demonstration of bad faith and bad taste. It should be reversed in the interest of democracy. Elementary principles of justice ought to have been given precedence over technicalities and party highhandedness.The screening exercise has already heated the polity and may cause a breach of the peace in the state in ways that will affect national security, the state being part of the oil exploitation hub. Also, there is an added importance to the status of the state as the president's state. The president needs to use the weight of his office to allow the prevalence of due process and ensure that the security of the people of Bayelsa and other Nigerians are not mortgaged. The country certainly cannot afford another electoral carnage. Democracy is about the people and they should have a say on who should govern them.
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